By Eva Wolchover
Sunday, June 22, 2008
Arlington restaurant owner Ricardo Mermet saw more than a hero in Vietnam vet and war amputee Karl D. Chapin of Grafton. He saw his guardian angel.
Until Tuesday, Mermet, a native of Argentina who co-owns Tango restaurant with his wife, Nancy, was in desperate need of a new kidney. Years of diabetes and hypertension had taken their toll, and Mermet had spent the last 18 months undergoing thrice-weekly sessions of dialysis while his name sat unmoved on the national organ donation list (UNOS).
Chapin, 59 is a decorated amputee who lost his right hand at Hamburger Hill in Vietnam. He came across Mermet’s plea for a kidney on matchingdonors.com, a Canton-based Web site that matches donors with patients in need of transplants.
When asked which kidney he’d like to donate, he said, “Doc, you gotta take the left, because that’s the one I’ve been teaching Spanish to.’ ” he joked.
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